Tragedy Befalling

Befallen

Amanda stood in the living room remembering the day she had bought that house. It had been 'home' to her for over two years now.It felt like twenty. It was a huge building; the largest house on the market at that time, in fact. The living room was wide and open, with the walls stretching two stories up. On her left, a relatively shorter wall protruded into the space parallel to the edge of the room behind it. It led in from the entryway, and was the only way to get into the house through a door. Directly in front of her was the wall made entirely out of windows, which looked out over her private area of the beach. Opposite it, a spacious kitchen held the best kitchenware money could buy and a stairwell leading up to the next floor. The second floor had multiple bedrooms and a master bath so large that it may as well have been a hot tub.

In it were all of the necessities and luxuries she had ever desired. A soft couch and a 72 inch plasma screen television were placed in front of the window on the bottom floor. The second largest of the bedrooms upstairs had been converted into a library containing every book she had ever read, from when she was five to when she was 35. The technology within her study rivaled the abilities of that in NASA. The house was huge, luxurious, and Amanda couldn't care less.

Once a month, she would take a trip to some place she had never been before, be it Niagara Falls, the Caribbean, Mount Everest, Tokyo, or anywhere else. On these trips, no expense was spared. Personal tour guides were hired, souvenirs were bought and shipped back to her house. Everything went as planned, because nine times out of ten, throwing money at a problem really would solve it.

She gave huge donations to different charities more times than she could count. Sometimes she would drive into the city and walk around trying to find someone to give money to. She loved the momentary joy she felt when seeing the way people's faces lit up with happiness and gratitude. She wished she could feel that too. To her, the money was nothing more than a distraction from the pain she felt whenever she was unoccupied. It didn't make her happy; it could never make her happy. She'd gotten it from her mother's death after all.

She didn't want any of that money, and it was for this reason that everything in her life was planned and precise and perfect; because she had the money to make it so, and she didn't care about keeping that money, everything was exactly as she wanted it to be

That was, until she met Justin. This man wrecked her perfect world. He tore it to shreds and threw it into a fire before sprinkling the ashes into the ocean. He was exactly what Amanda had needed.

She was on a December trip to Japan when she met him. It was snowing outside and she was spending an unscheduled period of time in a park when he sat on the bench next to her. He started the conversation, and Amanda was grateful for the distraction from her own thoughts. They talked lightly for a while, meaningless chatter, before he asked her out for some coffee, saying that he knew a good place not that far from where they were. She checked her watch for the time. There was an hour before her next scheduled event, so she decided to go. They took the short walk there together, in pleasant silence. Next thing she knew, it was three hours later. The two were laying together in the same park they had just left staring up at the stars. She had skipped her tour of an art museum in favor of getting to know this interesting man better, and she did not regret it one bit. They each made their trips back to the United States a week after that, each other's phone numbers saved in their contact lists.

Six months later, she jumped into his arms, unable to contain her excitement with the fact that he was moving into her house. He caught her gladly, laughing and spinning her around as any young lover would. They continued their giggles out of the way of the doors as the movers brought Justin's belongings inside.

Another six months passed before Justin found himself down on one knee in front of Amanda. They were in that same Japanese park, reminiscing under the moonlight when he had stopped and asked her suddenly and confidently if she would marry him. Tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks as she nodded yes. He joyously stood and cupped her face in his hands, and as Amanda sunk into the wonder of the moment she realized she was more happy in that moment than she had considered she could be in her lifetime.

Three months after that, they said their vows to each other. They stood, smiling into each other's eyes, on an altar covered in the purple Hyacinth petals which had been blown over from the bouquets on either side of the guests' seating. The meal and dancing which came after that were held in an extravagant hall a block away from the park they had been married in. Festivities continued late into the night. When they finally made it back to their house, Amanda didn't even have the time to think about how many fewer seats were taken up by her limited friends and family than Justin's before the two passed out in each other's arms.

Thirteen months more, and Amanda sat on her bed sobbing into Justin's chest. There wasn't much light to see with, as the majority of it was being provided by the dim, red light spilling out of the analog clock by the bedside. It was one in the morning when Amanda miscarried her first child. She was too scared to ever try for another.

Twenty seven months later, she was living in a newly-renovated beach house with a golden tan, a loving husband, and an adopted daughter named Josephine. On that day, all three laughed and joked around as if everything was perfect. It seemed to be that way too, until they ran out of milk. Justin and Josephine drove to the store to get some, leaving Amanda at home by herself.

An hour passed before Amanda really began to worry, two before she was terrified. She saw the news before she got the call. Her husband and daughter were dead, killed by a drunk driver, who had miraculously survived the collision. There were five seconds after she ended the phone call before she fell apart, wailing as she curled into a ball on her couch.

Three days more ticked by before the funeral was held. Amanda stood strong the whole time. She refused to shed a tear as everyone said their goodbyes and gave her their condolences. She refused to be weak in front of anyone besides him.

There was a twelve day break in her life then, as she transitioned back into letting her wealth do all the work for her. Then she broke loose. No expense had ever been spared when it came to lessening her pain, and this time was no exception. The money she had once poured into trips overseas was now spent on alcohol and sleeping pills.

In two more months, she finally got sober enough to think. It was less than five hours from then that the man who had murdered her family and ruined her life was found murdered on the streets of San Francisco. Money really did solve problems.

She was dead less than twenty minutes after than man, just enough time to tie a rope and take some extra pills for good measure. When they found her two days after that, a message was seen scrawled on a piece of paper taped onto her door.

"I'm ending this where it started."

Nobody ever claimed her body. They gave it a week before she was cremated, and, per her will, her ashes were spread in that park in Japan where her life had began all that time ago.